Follow Me
by sunnylemon35
Summary: Hannibal Visits Will in prison. Takes place immediately after the season finale. This is my first fic, so please be kind!
1. Chapter 1

Will wasn't surprised when he saw Hannibal outside his prison cell. In fact, he had rather expected it. Hannibal would consider it rude not to visit, and rude was the last thing that Hannibal would want to be considered. Of course, in Will's mind (or what was left of it) he was already rude, because framing people for murder is generally considered to be rude. Unlike Hannibal however, Will did not _eat_ the rude, he just managed to piss them off enough to leave him alone.

"Why are you here?" Will choose his words very carefully.

"I think that you and I both know the answer to that."

"If I knew, would I be asking?" Hannibal sighed. The only thing that both of them knew was that Will was _not_ going to make this easy.

"You know, I figured out why 'The Chesapeake Ripper' killed all those people," He said it quietly, barely above a whisper, with a hint of sarcasm at the name he was now known as to Jack and the others, "He gave people what he figured was coming to them."

Hannibal opened the cell door and walked in. He chuckled, with a slightly sad tone to it.

"Eat the rude."

Will took a step towards Hannibal. His expression was unreadable, which was somewhat terrifying considering Doctor Lecter's current situation. When Will was finally within a foot of Hannibal, he reached up and punched him hard, right in the face, with a strength neither of the two knew he had.

"Who do you think you ARE?! That _you_ can decide people's fates?! That _you_ have the power to decide who's good or bad, who gets to live another day and who gets to DIE?!" Hannibal was rather taken aback. He had imagined this little meeting with Will several different time, with many different outcomes, but this was one he had not yet considered. Will, unfortunately for Doctor Lecter, took his stunned silence the wrong way. Will moved on from his face to punching him repeatedly in the gut, and with each punch, he would repeat a word.

"Who! Do! You! Think! You! Are!?" Will had tears in his eyes, which only served to confuse Hannibal more. The other effect it had was to break his heart (never mind the pain in his lower abdomen) to see Will like this.

"Will, calm down." Hannibal did his best to be comforting, but apparently he wasn't very good at it, because at this point Will had stopped punching him and had sat down on the bed with his head in his hands. He was sobbing quietly, again confusing Hannibal, though he was not entirely unused to the situation, given the hysterics the Will had often gone into due to the encephalitis. He sat down next to Will, wrapping his arm around Will's shoulders. Will was shaking by now. Hannibal started rubbing small (and hopefully soothing, though that was improbable) circles into Will's back.

"Will, why are you so upset?" Hannibal realized how stupid that sounded immediately after he said it. While he may not be the most empathetic person (unlike Will), he could still see how being framed for murder may be slightly upsetting. Will however, just looked up at the man he had previously trusted so much. There were tears streaking his cheeks. If Hannibal had already thought his heart was breaking, then surely now it's broken fragments were drowning in Will's tears. It was the first time that Hannibal had really looked at Will since Garrett Jacob Hobbs. It was the first time that Hannibal could see just how broken Will was, and in his eyes, he could see Will desperately trying to put himself back together.

"Because! I thought that for once I had found someone that I could actually trust! And then you just betrayed me with no hesitation! Like I was just a stranger that meant nothing to you! I thought that for once, maybe, I had found a friend!" Will turned away from Hannibal, hugging his knees to his chest and hiding his face.

"Will. I need you to listen to me very carefully. " His tone was deadly serious (though Will didn't know whether he should trust that sense of trust anymore, considering where they were and why they were there.) "I came here to break you out. Follow me, and do _exactly_ as I say."


	2. Chapter 2

Hannibal re-opened the cell door. When he didn't hear footsteps behind him, he turned around to a very surprised Will. Hannibal sighed and grabbed Will's hand.

"We have a limited amount of time. Now come on before we're both stuck in here." Will shook his head as though to clear his thoughts. Hannibal stepped into the near-empty hallway. At either end there were two guards stationed. Comparatively, it was not very well guarded. This would be easier than Hannibal had previously thought.

Meanwhile, Will was incredibly confused. Hannibal had gotten him into prison only to break him back out? Surely there was some other reason. He couldn't help but think that it meant that he was valuable to Hannibal, and even knowing what he was, he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of pride at that. Of course, that did remind Will exactly what Hannibal was, (a psychopathic cannibal, to be precise) so being "valuable" was probably not a good thing. Well, in any case, it was good for him now, considering that it was getting him out of prison. Though, it was the reason he was in the prison in the first place…

"Will! I know that this is probably unexpected, but we are breaking out of a prison! Pay attention!" Once he was sure that Will was not off in some hallucination, Hannibal started sneaking towards one set of guards. Will, taking the hint, snuck along slightly behind him. Hannibal stopped when they were in arms reach. He quickly put the guard in front of him in a tight chokehold, holding it for about five seconds before letting go. The man dropped to the floor. Will couldn't tell whether he was unconscious or dead. Well, that was what he told himself so that he wouldn't have to think about the ugly implications of Hannibal being able to kill so easily, without a second thought. Hannibal turned to the other guard. He quickly covered his mouth. He wasn't fast enough, however, and the guard managed to let out a quick yelp that alerted the guards at the other end of the hallway.

Will heard Hannibal mutter something under his breath.

"Prakeiktas. "

"What was that?" Hannibal didn't even bother turning to face him.

"Lithuanian. Don't ask what." Will briefly pondered _why_ Dr. Lecter knew Lithuanian, but there were more important matters at hand. Hannibal finally let go of the second guard, who, like his comrade, crumpled into a lifeless heap. Will turned so that he wouldn't have to see the bodies, even though he knew that there were about to be two more. Will moved into a slightly more defensive stance, as he had no weapon to attack with, and if he was honest with himself, he probably wasn't strong enough to take on one or two trained officers. Hannibal, however, switched to be more offensive, which ordinarily would have surprised Will, but at this point, he just went along with it.

The first guard went to Hannibal. He gave the poor man a hard punch in the gut, probably inspired by Will's previous assault on him. The man was a trained professional, however, and it was not going to be that easy. While Will had been watching the two other men fight, Will noticed the last guard taking out a walkie-talkie-like device. Will knew exactly what he was doing with it. He was calling for backup. Before he could fully take it out, Will charged at him. He elbowed the phone out of his hands and onto the hard cement floor of the prison. It shattered, and the thousands of tiny pieces went everywhere, if the definition of "everywhere" was "Will's face and other various areas of exposed skin." Will flinched, but chose to shake off the pain in favor of going after the guard again. Hannibal was still busy with the one that he had been fighting. Apparently the surprise was the main reason that he got the first two, because they looked pretty evenly matched now. That probably should have scared Will, because he was (apparently) nowhere near as strong as Hannibal, but the adrenaline mixed with Will's ability to just generally deify logic kept him from thinking about that too much.

The man came at him with a low kick to Will's calves. Will barely managed to doge it, using the momentum to throw a punch in the general direction of the man's face.

Though the punch did land, he had been off by about a half foot. His fist hit his shoulder, causing more pain for Will than the guard. The man took the opportunity to take another swing at Will's legs, however this time his foot connected solidly with Will's ankle. Will fell to his knees, and the guard took a handgun out of its pouch. He had it aimed at Will's head, about to shoot, when suddenly a voice saved Will. A voice with a fairly thick accent, a voice that Will had never appreciated more.

"Put the gun down, or I will have to shoot you, and I will certainly do it before you could attempt to do the same to me." Will looked over. There was Hannibal, perfectly fine, save a few scratches on his arms. He had a gun in hand, presumably from the now unconscious (or more likely, dead) guard behind him.

In Will's opinion, Hannibal had never looked cooler than in that moment.

Unfortunately, the guard did not fear him as much as he should have. Fortunately, he had terrible aim. Unfortunately, he had a quick trigger finger.

The next thing Will felt was the most pain he had ever experienced, which was saying a lot in his case, considering that having your brain swell is not usually considered to feel good. He felt it was coming from somewhere in his left forearm. He looked down. The bullet wound was far enough over that he could tell that it didn't hit any major arteries or veins. He was still losing a lot of blood though. He heard another gunshot, but it sounded like he was hearing it though a solid wall of jello. Actually, it felt like he was suspended in jello. He could see that Hannibal had shot the final guard, straight through the head.

There was blood everywhere. Will wondered where Doctor Lecter had gotten such good aim, but he supposed it wasn't important. In fact, nothing was really important. Well, Hannibal was important. He thought. Actually, he wasn't sure. His thoughts felt like they were barely there, as if they were just out of his grasp, just out of sight in a thick fog. He saw Hannibal rushing over to him. He saw his vision starting to turn black at the edges. He saw Hannibal's lips mouthing something. He just couldn't understand it.


	3. Chapter 3

When Will woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar motel room (it was definitely a motel, not a hotel, judging by the gaudy wallpaper and vague smell of beer). It was the first time he'd been in this particular situation. He supposed it happened to others often, but Will hardly drank or went to bars. Approximately 15 seconds after coming to the conclusion that he'd blacked out and needed a certain something, he realized that the sharp pain in his left arm was an indicator that this was not what he had first thought.

Will sat up, trying to remember what had happened. He looked at his arm, because pain usually has a visible source and it might help him remember. What he saw was a thick white gauze covering most of his forearm, with about a square inch of blood leaking through. He suddenly remembered all of it; the prison, Hannibal showing up, the guards-

That would be it. He remembered being shot and then blacking out. Now that that was settled, Will decided to look around. Hannibal wasn't there, which worried him slightly. He started going to the small kitchen area, in search of some pain killers. He saw a small bottle of Advil on the counter, and noticed a post-it on the cap. He examined the note; it appeared to be from Hannibal.

_Will-_

_I'm going out to get a few supplies and groceries. I will be back in ten minutes. Stay put until I get back._

Normally Will would have ignored this advice, especially coming from someone who had framed him for murder. He did not, however, ignore the advice, mainly because it wasn't like he had anything better to do, and in any case, he was now a wanted criminal, so he doubted he'd get that far before being thrown back in prison.

Will found a cup and some water and took some of the Advil. Though the pain was exponentially better than yesterday, it was still a pain in the neck. He sighed. He now had ten minutes to kill, and he also had a _lot_ of questions for Hannibal when he got back. His main question was why would someone get you arrested, only to get you back out? Will remembered that Hannibal did happen to be a psychopath; but he wasn't a stupid psychopath, and he wouldn't do something without a reason.

Fortunately, it appeared that Will had slept through most of the time that Hannibal was gone. He heard a click at the door, and then the door swung open to reveal Hannibal, holding several bags. Will rushed over to help him with said bags.  
"Will, no. You're hurt. I can get the bags." This made Will somewhat indignant; only one of his arms was hurt! He could still help with the bags! He knew that Hannibal was only doing it so that Will wouldn't be hurt more; it was a nice gesture, so Will let it slide.

Once Hannibal had set all the bags down, he noticed that Will's gauze as no longer clean. He grabbed a new strip of gauze out of one of the bags.

"Hold out your arm." Will did not like being treated like a little kid, or at least, that's what he thought it was like. He decided to be difficult. He held out his right arm. Hannibal raised one eyebrow. They stood like that for at least another minute, until Hannibal finally said, voice dripping with irritation,

"Other arm." Will smirked. He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. He thought of not complying, but decided that at least Hannibal was trying to be nice, so he should reward that (much like a dog; this did not occur to Will until afterwards, but he said nothing lest Hannibal get the wrong idea from that.) Hannibal took off the dirty wrap on Will's arm, surprising Will with how gentle he was.

"This may sting a little." Hannibal got some anti-biotics from one of the bags. He smeared some of it on Will's wound, and he immediately pulled his arm back at the burning sensation.

"Ow! Sting?! A little?! Could you give me a better warning next time?!" Hannibal sighed. Will was being rather immature.

"It would hurt much more if I didn't put it on." Will knew he was right. He stretched his arm back out.

"Sory…" Hannibal nodded and finished re-wrapping the wound. He grabbed a few things from the bags and went over to the kitchen. This somewhat concerned Will, knowing what Hannibal was.

"What are you doing?" Will tried to keep any emotion from his voice, but it still shook a little.

"Making soup." Hannibal made it sound as if it was the most normal thing in the world. In normal circumstances, it would be, but both of them knew that these were not the most normal circumstances.

"I'm not sure that you making food is really-" Hannibal cut him off.

"It does not have people in it, if that is what you were worried about." Seeing as it _was_ what Will was worried about, he did not feel the need to respond. He went over to the kitchen to watch Hannibal cook. It was mesmerizing, watching him chopping things up so quickly and precisely. After a few minutes, Hannibal glanced over at him.

"Something on your mind?" It took a few seconds for Will to respond, due to the utter silliness of that question in the current situation.

"Well, my friend and psychiatrist turned out to be a psychopathic cannibal," Hannibal chuckled a little at that, "And then he framed me for murder, only to break me back out of the prison, during which I got shot, and is now making me soup. I guess you could say that there's a bit on my mind, yes." They both looked at each other and broke into uncontrollable laughter, just because of the sheer absurdity of their situation.

Will finally got himself back together. Hannibal saw that this was serious again.

"Why would you do that to me?" Hannibal remembered their "conversation" (if it could be called that) inside Will's cell. Hannibal sighed. In all honesty, he couldn't defend himself. He just could tell Will that it was so that he wouldn't get caught.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" Will noted that Hannibal didn't answer (it was hard not to notice) but he let it be, for now at least. He shrugged, walking over to the small, probably filthy, couch in front of the tv.

"Sure. I'll read off some of the stuff they have; that soup smells way too good to make you stop cooking." Hannibal smiled. He knew that they would have to talk about it eventually, but at least they weren't talking about it now.

"Let's see, there's Blue Dragon, Silence of the Sheep, Soylent Green…"

"That one!" Hannibal sounded disproportionately excited.

"Soylent Green?" Will was confused for a second. He didn't think it was that good.

"Yes! It's my favorite!" Will was about to ask why, but he realized what the movie was about.

"Alright." Hannibal brought the finished soup over to Will, sitting down just as the movie began to play.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time the movie was over, Will was fast asleep. Hannibal carried him over to a bed, making sure that the blankets were just right. Hannibal quietly sat back down on the couch. He wasn't tired, and even if he was, he knew Will's tendency to sleepwalk, which could get him in a lot of trouble now. Hannibal sighed. This was going to be a long night.

Hannibal thought about what Will had said back in the jail. Well, at least now he knew that he wasn't a sociopath, because he felt guilty as anything now. It felt odd, seeing Will like that. It was odd, because it wasn't as though he had never seen Will fall apart. The difference was that this time, he was the cause of it. Well, the first time he was the direct cause, he did have to take some credit for not telling Will about the encephalitis.

Hannibal started drumming his fingers on the armrest. It was an old habit that he hadn't done since he'd been in college. It was dark in the room, save a small sliver of moonlight that crept through a hole in the curtains and onto the floor. Everything was still. It was more peaceful than Hannibal thought possible.

Hannibal started to accidentally doze off, but he was still awake when he heard a small whimper, coming from the side of the room that Will's bed was on. Hannibal was immediately at Will's side, wide awake. Will was covered in a layer of sweat, and he was shivering hard. He had a pained expression on his face. Hannibal lightly tapped him on his shoulder.

"Will." He whispered it so that he wouldn't startle Will, but he was going to have to say it louder if he wanted to have any effect on him. He shook Will this time.

"Will." He said it louder, but it still didn't have the desired effect. Now Will was starting to speak, but it was unintelligible. His pillow and the sheets were both soaked.

"Will!" Will's eyes finally shot open. He sat up.

"Wha-what? What's g-going on?" He was looking around the room frantically. He saw Hannibal next to him and noticeably calmed down, though he was still considerably tenser than usual.

"You were having a nightmare Will. You are safe now." He almost fell to his knees in relief. That is, until he noticed the tears falling from Will's eyes.

"Will? Are you ok?" Hannibal was genuinely concerned; he had never seen Will just after a nightmare, and it was not what he had expected.

"I'm fine." Will's voice shook rather unconvincingly. He would have to try harder to convince Hannibal.

"Are you sure?"

"I said I was fine!" Will snapped at Hannibal. He got up and went into the bathroom, locking the door louder than necessary, as though to prove a point. This only served to make Hannibal even more concerned. He walked over to the door. He could distinctly hear crying, though the sound was muffled by the door, and probably a towel. Hannibal knocked quietly.

"Will. Tell me what's wrong." He tried to be as soothing as possible, though he did acknowledge that he was probably not very good at it.

"Go away."

"I will _not_ go away, not until I am sure that you are fine." He didn't have to convince Will, who was half offended that Hannibal didn't believe him, and half annoyed because he knew that he wasn't exactly acting perfectly normal.

"I'm fine. There. Now go away." Hannibal found a pen clip and started trying to unlock the door with.

"We both know that that is untrue." He almost had it now. Apparently Will hadn't noticed, because he only responded with a weak "I don't."

Hannibal finally got it and opened the door. Will was standing in the corner, with a towel in hand (Hannibal felt somewhat proud that he was right about that). There were even more tears dripping down his face. Will was still crying quietly. He hiccupped lightly and attempted to choke down another sob.

Hannibal stood across from Will. Will looked away from him. Apparently the floor had become extraordinarily interesting in that moment.

"Will. I will keep asking you until you give me a proper answer. _What is wrong._" Will took in a huge breath of air and looked up. Will let it out and glanced down at Hannibal. He then looked at the watch he had on. It had been a birthday gift from Jack. It currently read 1:27. He looked back at Hannibal who was still waiting patiently for an answer.

"Nothing." Hannibal let out a frustrated sigh.

"We both know that's not true! If it was, we wouldn't be sitting here with you sobbing like it was nothing!" Will flinched back at the screamed words. Hannibal felt guilty that he had snapped at Will when he was like this.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm a bit unhappy with the man who framed me for murder when I thought he was my friend!" Hannibal couldn't respond to that. Will looked away again, letting out a shaky breath.

"Sorry." Will wiped his tears away. Hannibal just felt worse, mostly because he knew that Will was in the right. He was mad at himself for just making things worse when he was trying to help.

"It's okay Will. You need to let it out." Will just started crying more. Hannibal decided to take a chance, and he went over and hugged Will. He was surprised at first, but he quickly hugged back. He was holding him tightly, as if he would never let go. He rested his head on Hannibal's shoulder. Hannibal just rubbed circles into his back like at the prison.

"I j-just thought… I just thought t-that I'd finally found someone who'd be my friend…oh god, this sounds cheesy doesn't it?"

"Will, I wasn't leading you on about being friends. I know that that probably sounds like a lie, considering everything else I've lied to you about, but I do want to be your friend Will. Just trust me."

And despite every fiber of him warning him not to, Will couldn't help but to trust him.

Author's Note: If anyone wants me to continue this I will, but this could also be a good ending, so just tell me what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

It was the next day. After eating an enjoyable breakfast of sausages (which Will checked to make sure they weren't people) and eggs, Hannibal said that he was going to go out.

"Can I come with you?" Will realized what a bad idea that was, but there was no way that he could stand being in this motel room alone for several hours. Oddly enough, that was not what Hannibal had an issue with.

"You know that you aren't going to enjoy it." Will was incredibly confused. It wasn't like Hannibal was going to get groceries or-

Oh. Well that settled it, Will was not letting Hannibal do _that_. He was appalled.

"Wait, Hannibal I'm not letting you _kill _someone because you're hungry or whatever!" Will didn't even want to know how Hannibal thought that he was going to get away with this.

"Well, it's not like we'll get caught. You are supposedly a serial killer that just escaped prison…" Will felt offended that he was being used as an excuse to murder someone. He figured that that was also the reason the prison guards died, but this was different. That was Hannibal killing someone in his name just because he could.

"No! You can't just murder someone for your- your sick _amusement_!" Will couldn't believe him.

"I did tell you that you could stay home." Will was exasperated. It was like Hannibal just didn't get it.

"No that-that's not the problem!" Hannibal was irritated by now.

"If you want to come, come. But if it is really such an issue for you, then just stay here. It is as simple as that." If Hannibal was irritated, then Will was outright _pissed._ And Will could be seriously scary when he was pissed.

"I will _not let you murder for your entertainment._ Have I made that clear?" Will was not just going to let him do this. This was more than not talking about something; this was someone's life in danger.

"Will, if we are going to be friends, this is something you're going to have to deal with-"

"I AM dealing with it! Right now!" Will's mental filter had shut off by this point, and he was letting all of his thoughts surge free. "I hate it! Why can't you understand! This is a simple concept, you are not so much better than everyone else that you can just kill them if you don't like them! You can't put yourself in someone else's shoes for the half of a second it would take to realize that what you're doing is wrong! And I hate that you manipulate everyone around you just because you can! If someone did that to you, you'd kill them! But you are just _so_ caught up with yourself that you can't see that! You're such a hypocrite!" Will finished his monologue. He was suddenly very acutely aware of how rude that had been. He was no better than Hannibal, at least in his mind.

"Wait, no, I'm so sorr-" Hannibal didn't wait for him to finish his apology before storming out of the room. Will sat back down on the bed and put his head in his hands.

"Why do I always screw everything up?" He didn't know why he spoke the question aloud. It wasn't as though there was anyone there to answer it, and he had always found it absurd when people talked to themselves.

Will thought about what he had said. Here he was, preaching about how Hannibal was the one who had killed their chance of a friendship, and yet he was the one who had actually blown the chance to pieces. He felt tears welling up again in his eyes for the third time in two days, and he couldn't help beating himself up more for being such a crybaby when it came to Hannibal.

Will wiped away the tears as best he could. He decided that he was going to make it up to Hannibal, no matter what it took. Of course, he still thought (knew) that what Hannibal was doing was wrong, but for now he couldn't change that. Will knew that Hannibal would have to come back eventually, because he had left his stuff there.

He was brainstorming for about ten minutes before he realized that he was hungry. When he walked into the kitchen, he suddenly realized the perfect way to make it up to Hannibal.

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is so short! I had a lot going on today, so I didn't have very much time to write. The other chapters will be longer, I promise!


	6. Chapter 6

It was harder than Will had thought. He didn't bake often, on a usual day he would just have some type of tv dinner or the like (ramen was a favorite of his.) He knew how to cook a few things like pasta or eggs, but cakes were another matter entirely. He was also lacking in a cookbook, so he essentially just had his memory to go on.

After mixing what he thought looked like the right amounts of what he thought were the right ingredients, he put it in the oven, on what he thought seemed like the right temperature. He acknowledged the fact that he was probably off, but it was the thought that counted… right? Well, he would find out soon enough, whether he wanted to or not. Hannibal had been gone for at least two hours. It was 6:00, according to Will's watch. He hoped that Hannibal would come back soon, because aside from wanting to apologize, Will was no getting to be quite bored without the distraction of the cake.

Will sat down on the couch and started watching tv, some reality show, he didn't really know what it was about, nor did he care. He started to doze off, despite it not being anywhere close to when he usually managed to fall asleep. Will's last thought before falling into the dark void of sleep was "I hope he gets back soon…"

Will first noticed a (familiar) hand gently shaking him. He also felt a warm blanket, but that was beside the point.

"Will." Will sat up and rubbed his eyes, though he was still not fully awake.

"Mmm." He heard Hannibal laugh slightly at his sleepiness.

"There appears to be smoke coming from the oven. Would you happen to know anything about that?" It took Will a second to comprehend what Hannibal had just said. It took him another minute to actually connect the dots.

"Did you put it out?" Will was curious. He also did not want to say something stupid again.

"Of course." Will felt a sneaking suspicion that Hannibal knew exactly what had happened. There was pause where neither of them looked at each other. Hannibal finally broke the silence.

"Did you really try to make a cake?" Hannibal was mildly amused by his attempt. While he may specialize in diner meals, he certainly knew how to make cake, and that was definitely _not_ how to bake a cake. Will looked somewhat like a small child that had just been mocked.

"Well, I felt bad that I'd sort of… well, lost my temper earlier, so I wanted to apologize… I guess I failed, didn't I?" Will let out an obviously forced laugh.

"I appreciate the effort." Will brought the blanket up further… wait, hadn't he been on the couch? He looked around. He was on his bed, neatly tucked in. He became conscious of the fact that that meant that Hannibal had moved him over.

"Look, I'm really sorry about earlier, I just-" Hannibal cut him off.

"You are forgiven." Will was incredibly relieved that his apology had been taken so easily. He knew many other people who would not be so lucky as to have theirs accepted.

Speaking of that, Will knew that he needed to talk to Hannibal about that as soon as possible, before this got any further. But now, now he was so tired, surely it could wait another day…

Hannibal was entertained by Will's lack of the ability to stay properly awake. In fact, it was rather adorable how he kept on closing his eyes only for them to flutter back open moments later. It was also cute to watch him murmur the beginnings of sentences, only to lose his train of thought to sleep. Eventually Hannibal tucked him in and whispered to him to go to sleep.

"Hey Hanni," Hannibal paused for a minute because of the nickname, but ultimately let it slide, figuring that Will was too tired to argue it anyways.

"Yes?"

"Don't leave again, okay?" Hannibal thought that out of everything about Will falling asleep, this was the best part."

"Okay." Hannibal turned the lamp off and got into bed himself; Will wasn't the only one who was tired.


	7. Chapter 7

Unsurprisingly, Hannibal was the first of the two to wake up. He did not, however wake Will up. He just couldn't, he looked too peaceful, and Hannibal figured that he owed him that. He went over to the kitchen to make breakfast, which was _not_ people, because Hannibal figured that he should probably attempt to stay on Will's good side for once (the breakfast _was_ eggs and bacon). He had shown himself to be bad at that in the past few days, but he told himself that today was different.

He was almost finished when he saw Will getting up.

"Whatever you're making, it smells like heaven." Will sleepily rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"You're awake." Will nodded.

"Yeah. What're you making?" Hannibal deemed the eggs cooked and slid them onto the plates he had out.

"Eggs and bacon. Sit." Hannibal thought of saying "Not people", but he decided against bringing the subject up. Will sat down at the table across from Hannibal. Hannibal slid a plate in front of him, and Will immediately took a bite.

"Well, you're hungry." Will gave him a look that clearly said, "I am not amused by your commentary."

"'S really good." Will spoke with his mouth still full. Hannibal had already noticed that he was not big on manners. He was pleased with the compliment though.

"Thank you." The conversation stopped for a few minutes while the two of them sat there and ate. Will was the one who broke the silence for a change.

"We really should leave. This motel is kind of crappy."

"Where do you intend to go?" Hannibal hated to be that person, but he had to point out how illogical Will's suggestion was. Either way, they didn't have a car.

"We don't even have a car." Will was confused.

"Wait, then how did you even get me here? And where are we in the first place?" Will felt a bit stupid for not questioning any of this before now. Hannibal didn't understand why it mattered.

"I took one of the guard's car. And we are in a small town about twenty minutes outside of Baltimore." Will looked as though he had just thought of something brilliant; this scared Hannibal slightly.

"Well then we can just use that car!" Hannibal was somewhat frustrated with himself for not being able to make Will understand what a terrible idea this was.

"Will, do you know just how _suspicious _a police car looks-"

"Well then we can paint over it if that makes you happy." Will was set on the idea of leaving and he was not going to be swayed.

"We don't have any paint." Will could tell that Hannibal was close to giving in, and that that was pretty much his last argument.

"We can buy some then." Hannibal gave up. He rested his head in his hands and just asked resignedly,

"What color would you like?" Will looked extremely pleased with himself.

"Blue." As Hannibal was not particularly opposed to this choice, he just got up and headed to the door saying, "I'll be back. Don't do anything… unintelligent." Will simply leaned back in his seat and said "Whatever you say."

When Hannibal had finished painting the car and taking out any radio systems (he wouldn't let Will help because of his injured arm) he and Will took the few items they had (Hannibal had gotten some things such as cooking things and a few other things at various stores while they had been there) and packed them into the trunk. They got into the car, with Hannibal in the driver seat.

"Again, I have to ask, where do you intend to go?" Will thought about it for a minute.

"Let's go to Vegas!" Hannibal gave him the worst glare he could.

"No." Will laughed.

"Kidding! Hmmm…. fine then, let's go to New York." Hannibal gave him another look.

"You like cities." Will rolled his eyes.

"Says the man living, well, who lived, in Baltimore. C'mon, it'll be fun." Hannibal started to feel a headache coming on, and it was still early in the day.

"It's four hours away." Will laughed again.

"That's not that bad." Hannibal raised one eyebrow.

"You are not the one driving."

"Please?"

"Fine." Hannibal couldn't believe that he was actually doing this.

Everything was going fine until they were about two hours away. They had had to get off the highway briefly, and they were trying to get back on when Will very suddenly said, "Stop the car." Hannibal was confused but did as he was told.

"Wait, Will, why-" Will jumped out of the car, and there Hannibal saw it. Next to the side of the car, a dog was trotting up to Will. It had long, golden, soft looking fur and floppy ears. To top it off, it had huge chocolate brown eyes. Hannibal did have to say it _was_ rather cute, but it was still a dog.

"Can we keep it?" Hannibal was exasperated. "What- Will, we can't have a-" Hannibal looked at Will. He was using his, rather ironically, puppy dog eyes. Hannibal had to look away.

"Will, it will shed everywhere, and we will have to be with it, _in a car_, for the next two hours. No."

"We can't just leave it here! And look, it likes you!" The dog had, indeed, sat down next to Hannibal's leg, right on his foot. It had the same "please?" face as Will. Hannibal sighed.

"Fine." He knew that he was soon going to come to regret this.

They got back into the car, putting the dog in the backseat. It had put its paws on Hannibal and Will's armrests, so it wasn't really in the backseat though.

"He needs a name." As much as Hannibal didn't want to think about the dog, he knew that Will was right.

"Will, I know it needs a name, but please, just not now." Will sighed. He knew that he had been pushing Hannibal all day.

"Fine. But tomorrow, we are giving it a name."

"Fine. Now go to sleep. You need it."

Author's Note: Okay, so I need a name for their new dog. If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it!

Also, thank you to everyone who has kept reading up until this point, and a bigger thank you to everyone who has followed, favorite, or reviewed this story. It really means a lot to me!


	8. Chapter 8

"Will wake up, we're… somewhere." Will was almost used to this routine now, Hannibal gently waking him up, him not having a clue as to what was going on.

Will stretched and looked out of the car window. They were in an underground parking garage, and though it was unsurprising, it was not particularly helpful.

"Where are we?" He figured that they were somewhere near New York, if not _in_ New York. He suddenly felt something wet sliding along his arm. He looked over, and saw the dog that was now his and Hannibal's, and he smiled. It really was a cute dog. He patted it on the head a few times, and then turned to look back at Hannibal.

"We are at a hotel just inside New York, one of the only ones that accepts dogs, might I add." Will just had to smirk at how annoyed Hannibal sounded. "All of our stuff is in the room. I wanted to let you sleep as long as possible. You need rest if you want your arm to heal." Will rolled his eyes at how Hannibal was treating him like a child, but he didn't say anything because, quite frankly, he would rather be sleeping than lugging all of their stuff to the room.

"Well then, let's go." They proceeded to get out of the car, the dog tagging along. Once they got into an elevator to take them to their floor (the 14th one, no less) and some typical elevator music started playing, Will started laughing.

"What?" Hannibal didn't understand why Will was laughing so hard.

"This music is so absurd." Hannibal looked mildly offended.

"I like it. It's classical, far superior to the music they are making nowadays." This just made Will laugh harder. The dog had a mixture of fear and worry on its face, so Hannibal told Will to knock it off.

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. They walked out and made it to the room quickly. Will checked his watch. It was already 6:00. Well, it wasn't like they had important things to do anyways. Important things that they couldn't do in the room anyway.

"Hey Hannibal, you promised that we could name the dog." Hannibal had known that he would regret saying that. Once they named it they both knew that there was no going back. If they named it, they kept it. Hannibal would love nothing more than to go back on his promise, to tell Will that he lied, but that would be rude. And Hannibal would never do something rude. Anything that he thought was rude, at least.

"So I did." Will smiled. He hadn't thought that Hannibal would keep his promise.

"I was thinking something like… Dash?" Hannibal gave him the "glare of disapproval", which is what Will called it when Hannibal raised one eyebrow and tilted his head down ever so slightly, just to clarify that he was not amused.

"What about Faustus?" Will didn't even know that that was a name. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that Hannibal would suggest it.

"How is that even- no. We are not naming our dog Faustus. What about Theodore?" It was relatively normal, it had a good nickname, and it was sufficiently impressive to satisfy Hannibal.

"That sounds excellent." It was finally something that they could agree on, which both of them were thankful for. Will kneeled down next to Theodore, who Will would probably end up calling Teddy, and started petting him lovingly.

"Do you hear that? Your name is Theodore now." Will put his nose on Teddy's and he grinned. Hannibal had to smile at that. It was nice to see something that Will loved so much that would love him back just as much. Something that wouldn't betray him… well, no use thinking of that incident now. Hannibal was trying to move on.

"Hey Hannibal, would you mind helping me give Teddy a bath? I don't want him to get his dirty paws all over everything." Ordinarily Hannibal would have refused, but this was really in his best interest, and having Will try to wash a dog without getting his arm hurt more would not end well.

"Alright. I'll go get the bath started. There should be some soap in one of the bags on your bed, if you could grab that." Hannibal went into the bathroom to find a good-sized bathtub. He turned on the water, making sure that it wouldn't be too hot. Will walked in, with the soap, and he was herding Teddy along with him.

When Teddy saw the water, he immediately started trying to back out. At least he wasn't barking. Yet.

Will shut the door. He picked up Teddy, though not without a struggle on Teddy's part. Although he wasn't huge, he was decidedly not small. While he was desperately trying to escape Will's tight hold, he managed to scratch the bandages covering where he had been shot. Will gasped in pain. He somehow managed to hold on to Teddy.

"Will! Are you ok?!" Hannibal stood up and stepped towards Will. "Will! Let me see where he scratched you!" Hannibal was extremely worried. He'd worked in the ER, he'd seen people in pain, and Will was definitely in pain.

"Hannibal, get the soap. Will started to put Teddy in the bath. Hannibal couldn't believe Will. Getting Teddy clean should not have been his primary concern right now.

"Will-"

"I swear to god, we are going to clean this dog if it's the last thing I do, and if you don't start helping soon, it just might be." Hannibal realized that it was useless to argue at this point. Hannibal started rubbing soap on Teddy as soon as he was in the water. Teddy was still struggling, but they had the advantage now.

They must have broken a record, they cleaned him so fast. As soon as they made sure that every part of him was spotless, they let Teddy go. He ran off to the other side of their hotel room. They weren't paying much attention to him at this point though. Hannibal grabbed Will's arm to assess the damage. Teddy had re-opened the wound, and it was bleeding profusely. Will's entire forearm was coated in blood. He was going to need stiches.

"Will, we need to get you to a hospital." Will was now giving Hannibal the disapproving glare.

"What would I need?" Hannibal didn't see why that mattered.

"Stitches, Will, we need to go, fast, before-"

"Well you'd better find a sowing kit." Hannibal couldn't believe him. He had to admit, he was a little impressed too. Here Will was, probably in extreme pain, and instead of trying to get to a hospital, he was suggesting that Hannibal stich him up _right there_.

"Will, no, you need to be at a hospital, I can't-"

"Hannibal! I am a convicted criminal! I can't just 'go to the hospital'!"

"Well, you know the Hippocratic oath, they have to treat _every_ patient,-" Hannibal would have been annoyed by all the times that Will had cut him off in the past two minutes, if he wasn't preoccupied with trying not to panic.

"What, and then when I'm all good to go, I get sent back to prison?! No! I'm out, and I'm staying out! Now are you a doctor or what?!" They were losing time. Hannibal hated to admit it, but Will did have a point. Fortunately, Hannibal had a sowing kit with him. He would have told you it was for emergencies like these, but in reality, it was his guilty pleasure. In any case, right now it was being used for emergencies. Hannibal grabbed it from his bag. He didn't have any fast-acting pain-killers, so he just gave Will some Advil for the pain later and said, "This is going to hurt."

Will simply nodded. He was trying to act tough, but Hannibal could see the fear in his eyes. Of course, he didn't blame him. This was not going to be fun.

Will looked away. Hannibal felt him flinch when the needle went in the first time, but after that, he was amazing about doing his best not to move.

About ten minutes later, he was finished. Will was shaking and he was practically panting. He had his eyes shut tight. Hannibal knew it was irrational and that it had to be done, but he still felt terrible for having to hurt Will.

"You're finished. I am sorry for that." Will just nodded weakly. Teddy came over with a worried look on his face. It was adorable, even to Hannibal, to see him care so much for his master. He gently nudged Will, thankfully not on his bad arm. Will gave him a small half-smile.

"Now you actually need sleep. I'm taking you over to your bed, whether you like it or not." By the time that Hannibal had tucked him in, Will was already fast asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Will woke up to a cold, wet sensation that was not entirely unfamiliar to him. He opened his eyes, and ended up looking right into Teddy's. He couldn't help but laugh at how surprised he looked. He got up to get some Advil for his arm. When he walked into the kitchen, he found Hannibal cooking breakfast.

"Hey." Will swallowed the pills dry.

"Hello." Hannibal took notice of Will not needing a drink. "I am somewhat worried by how well you do that." Will just shrugged. He was used to it. Reflecting on it, he figured that it was a bit strange, but it didn't really matter.

"We need dog food." Hannibal had already thought of that. He motioned over to a new bag that was now sitting on the couch.

"I went out while you were asleep." Will checked his watch. How long had he been out? His watch read 11:00am. Hannibal handed Will a plate with a waffle. He sat down at the table. Hannibal was still cooking one for himself, so they talked across the kitchen.

"You know, you move a lot when you sleep." Yeah, no kidding. Again, this wasn't new to Will, but he had never lived with anyone before, for any amount of time, not including when he was a child.

"Yeah, I realized when I started waking up on the floor." It was true. Even before he had started to sleepwalk, he had often found himself on the floor at two in the morning.

"You also talk." Now that was new.

"What?" Hannibal thought that Will had known. Then again, he also thought that he had done it before.

"You didn't know? Yes, you are quite vocal. Almost to the point of being annoying." Hannibal smirked, walking over to sit at the table.

"What did I say?" Hannibal had to think fast to get himself out of this one. It had seemed like Will had been having a nightmare again, and he didn't want to have to bring it up. He was trying to think of something, but Will had noticed the pause.

"Hannibal, what did I say? Do not lie to me. I will know." Hannibal did not doubt that, which was going to make this doubly hard. He looked away. Usually lying was easy for him, and he wouldn't have any trouble, but this was Will. Lying to him was another matter entirely, and not just because he was better at sensing lies. It was different because Will was his friend, and people don't lie to friends, even Hannibal could understand that now. He tried to tell himself that it was for his own good, but in the end he just couldn't do it.

"You were talking about Garrett Jacob Hobbs." Will wanted to punch something. He had thought he was done with that. But he was haunting him, even here. Hannibal noticed how tense Will was.

"Will, it's okay. It'll get better." Will snapped.

"We both know that that's a lie!" He stood up and started to pace around the room. "If it was going to, it would have by now! I just want it to go away!" Will couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice. He sat down on the couch. "I just want it to go _away_." His voice cracked, and he looked up at Hannibal. Tears were, yet again, shining in his eyes. It was something that reoccurred far too often for Hannibal's liking. In fact, it happening at all was not to his liking. He went over to Will and hugged him.

"It's going to be alright. You are going to be alright." Will started to cry into his shoulder.

"I just wish that I could believe that." Hannibal was sick of just trying to wait this out while Will was so afraid, so lonely, so… sad.

"C'mon Will, we're in New York. Let's do something fun. It'll get your mind off of… things." Will wasn't going to pass up an offer to go out and explore New York with Hannibal, especially when it was Hannibal offering.

"O-Ok." Hannibal smiled as Will dried his eyes.

"Is there somewhere you want to go?" Will smiled. He knew just the place.

Author's Note: Ok, so while Will apparently knows where he wants to go, I do not. If anybody has a suggestion, it would be really helpful! Thanks


	10. Chapter 10

Jack Crawford was not a happy man. Not that he _had_ been a happy man recently, what with his wife having cancer and his best profiler being in prison. Well, at least him being in prison was better than the alternative, which was what was currently ruining his day. He had just received the unfortunate news that "Will Graham has escaped" and he thought that his mood had never taken a more sudden turn for the worse.

No, Jack Crawford was most definitely _not_ a happy man.

He paced his office, searching his mind for a solution to the problem presented to him. There were no witnesses to even get a general direction of where Will went. Jack had figured that Will would try to escape, but he hadn't thought about the possibility that he might actually _succeed._ Even though he was not entirely convinced that Will had been behind the crimes, the overwhelming evidence against him forced Jack to believe that there was a cannibal serial killer on the loose.

His day had only gotten worse when he found out that the one man that could possibly have any insight to where Will would go had just gone on vacation. The poor intern that had brought him the news that "Doctor Hannibal Lecter will be gone for the next month or so" had nearly fainted when Jack screamed, "Who goes on vacation to _LITHUANIA?!" _

The intern (Claire? Clarice? It was something like that, but Jack was not really in a mood for paying attention to names…) had cowered in fear. Jack realized that he had just snapped at some kid, and immediately felt guilty. He was too fed up to actually apologize, but he hoped that he hadn't just scarred the kid too bad. He shooed her off, and she almost tripped, she ran out so fast.

Jack picked up the phone, hoping to get this sorted out before anything too bad happened to further Will's slide off the deep end.

He sighed. It was going to be a long day.

As if to mock Jack, Will was having a great time. He had taken Hannibal to an old pizza place that he remembered eating at on one of the few times he had been in New York. Of course, it had taken a bit of pushing on Will's part, what with Hannibal's high-class taste. He had eventually given in, after all, they deserved a bit of relaxation, and if this was where Will really wanted to go, how could Hannibal say no?

They had decided to get one cheese pizza, they could share, and they would have leftovers for the next few days. Will bit into his first slice, gooey cheese almost sliding off. The grease stained his usually clean fingers a deep orange color. He made a happy noise as Hannibal sat there trying not to gag. He would try it. Not happily, but to not try it would be rude, and that was the one thing that the doctor refused to be. He tried to figure out a way to pick his slice up without acquiring the same finger stains that Will had. It seemed as though it was entirely coated in the grease, and there would be no good way to pick it up. Hannibal sighed, quietly enough that Will wouldn't hear him over the blaring pop music. He settled for picking the pizza up with a napkin, which, by the time Hannibal had gotten it off of the plate, had been soaked through.

Hannibal inspected his piece. The cheese was gooey to the point that it could have melted right off of the crust, even with the crust being as thick and chewy as it was. Near the edges he could see the bright red sauce poking out behind the cheese.

"What, are you going to give it a complete psychoanalysis before eating it?" Will chuckled at Hannibal's rather odd idiosyncrasies. For one thing, he was far too formal. For another, he ate people. Well, Will hoped to change both of those at some point. One of them was far more urgent, but now was not the time for unpleasant subjects, especially considering that they were eating.

Hannibal finally took a bite. He was surprised by the taste. He hadn't had pizza in a while, but this… this was exquisite. It was so warm, and his skilled tongue could taste the freshness of the tomatoes. He closed his eyes to truly savor the taste, and Will grinned. He had been hoping that he could prove Hannibal wrong about his choice in food. Judging by his face and the sounds he was making, Will had achieved his goal. Well, at least it was a start in any case.

**AN: **I am so sorry that I haven't put any chapters up in so long, I was extremely busy. This fic will probably go for about four or five more chapters.


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